Quick start

Welcome to InflowBooks. This page walks you from a brand new, empty account to your first recorded donation with a receipt in hand. The steps follow the order most committees find easiest, but there is no rush. You can do as much or as little in one sitting as you like, and come back to the rest whenever it suits you.

Nothing here is permanent until you choose to save it, and most things can be changed later. So feel free to set up a little, see how it looks, and adjust as you go.

Your first donation, step by step

Here is the shortest path from an empty account to a recorded payment. Each step links to a fuller guide if you want more detail.

1. Sign in. Use the login your administrator created for you. If you are not sure what you are allowed to do once you are in, the roles and permissions guide explains what each kind of login can see and change.
2. Decide your funds. Funds let you keep different pots of money separate, for example General and Building. You do not have to set these up first: every account starts with a General fund, which is plenty to begin with. You can add more later from the funds page.
3. Add a few members. Add the people who contribute, along with the monthly subscription they have agreed to give. You can start with just a handful and grow the list over time. See members to add them one by one, or importing your data to bring an existing list across at once.
4. Record your first payment. When a member hands over their contribution, record it against their name and the right fund, then issue a receipt they can keep. This is the heart of day to day use, covered in full under payments and receipts.
5. Set up your public page. Your masjid gets its own page where the community can see your funds and campaigns and learn how to give. A few details such as your name and a short description are all it takes to make it welcoming. See your public page.
6. Check your reports. At any time you can open reports to print statements, see how each fund is doing, and find out who is behind on their subscription. There is nothing to set up here: the figures build themselves as you record payments.

What to expect afterwards

Once a few members and payments are in, InflowBooks keeps a running picture for you. Each member's Outstanding goes up by their subscription every month and down each time you record a payment, so a member who owes ₹500 and pays ₹500 returns to a clean balance. You do not have to calculate any of this by hand.

Where to go next

That is the whole journey from an empty account to a recorded donation. When you want to go deeper, the rest of this guide covers each area in its own page: start with members and payments for daily work, then funds and campaigns when you run a one-time campaign, and reports when it is time to share the numbers with your committee.